Wednesday, 11 August 2010

August 11thEvents:3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins.2492 BC – Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation.480 BC – Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Artemisium – the Persians win a naval victory over the Greeks in an engagement fought near Artemisium, a promontory on the north coast of Euboea.355 – Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.1755 – Charles Lawrence gives expulsion orders to remove the Acadians from Nova Scotia beginning the Great Upheaval.1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.1898 – Spanish-American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.1918 – World War I: the Battle of Amiens ends.1919 – The constitution of the Weimar Republic is adopted.1920 – The Latvia-Bolshevist Russia peace treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed.1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.1952 – Hussein is proclaimed King of Jordan.1960 – Chad declares independence.1965 – Race riots (the Watts riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.1972 – Vietnam War: the last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam.1975 – East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.1982 – A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo to Honolulu, killing one teenager and injuring 15 passengers.1999 – The Salt Lake City Tornado tears through the downtown district of the city, killing one.2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.2003 – Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.2003 – A heat wave in Paris results in temperatures rising to 112 °F (44 °C), leaving about 144 people dead.

July 31 Events:30 BC – Battle of Alexandria - Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces. Mark Anthony subsequently commits suicide as a result of most of his army deserting.781 – Oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).904 – Thessalonica falls in a battle to the Arabs, who then destroy the city.1009 – Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope (succeeding Pope John XVIII).1200 – Attempted usurpation of John Komnenos the Fat.1423 – Battle of Cravant – the French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne (Hundred Years' War).1451 – Charles VII of France orders the arrest of Jacques Cœur.1492 – Expulsion of the Jews from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad - his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, .1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.1655 – Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius - Russo-Polish War (1654-1667).1658 – Proclamation of Aurangzeb as Moghul emperor of India.1667 – Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War.1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet - natural justice leads him to be pelted with flowers.1741 – Invasion of Upper Austria & Bohemia by Charles Albert of Bavaria.1790 – Inventor Samuel Hopkins is issued the First U.S. patent, for a potash process.1856 – Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.1865 – First narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia.1895 – The Basque Nationalist Party is founded by Basque nationalist leader Sabino Arana.1913 – The Balkan States signs an armistice at Bucharest.1919 – Weimar constitution is adopted by the German national assembly, which comes into force on August 14.1936 – The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo.1938 – Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece & other states (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).1938 – Engraved gold & silver plates from King Darius in Persepolis are discovered by Archaeologists.1941 – Holocaust - Instructions by Adolf Hitler to Hermann Göring leads to orders for SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material & financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."1945 – Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.1945 – John K. Giles attempts to escape from Alcatraz prison.1948 – New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated at Idlewild Field in New York, .1951 – Japan Airlines is established.1954 – First ascent of K2 - by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.1959 – Basque separatist organisation ETA is founded.1964 – Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon (Ranger program).1970 – Black Tot Day - last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.1971 – Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover (Apollo program).1972 – Operation Motorman - British troops move into the no-go areas of Belfast & Derry, Northern Ireland.1976 – Viking 1 – NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo (Viking program).1981 – General Omar Torrijos of Panama dies in a plane crash.1981 – A total solar eclipse occurs.1991 – The Medininkai Massacre in Lithuania.1992 – A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal.1992 – Georgia joins the United Nations.2002 – Hebrew University of Jerusalem is attacked when a bomb explodes in a cafeteria.2006 – Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro.

July 9 Events:455 – Avitus, a Roman military commander, is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.1540 – Annulment of King Henry VIII of England's marriage to his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves.1541 – Estevão da Gama departs Massawa.1755 – Braddock Expedition – British troops & colonial militiamen are ambushed => defeated by French & Native American forces (French & Indian War).1789 – In Versailles, France, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly.1790 – Second Battle of Svensksund – in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet (Russo-Swedish War).1793 – Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada & the importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited.1807 – Napoleon I of France & Alexander I of Russia sign the Treaties of Tilsit.1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.1815 – Talleyrand becomes Prime Minister of France.1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies, leading to Millard Fillmore becoming the 13th President of the United States.1850 – The execution of Persian prophet Báb in Tabriz, Persia.1863 – Siege of Port Hudson ends (American Civil War).1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship & all persons in the United States due process of law.1900 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives royal assent to an Act creating the Commonwealth of Australia.1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds producing a world swimming record & breaking the 'minute barrier'.1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution1943 – Operation Husky – Allied forces perform an amphibious invasion of Sicily (World War II).1944 – Battle of Normandy – British & Canadian forces capture Caen, France (World War II).1944 – Battle of Saipan – American forces take Saipan in the Mariana Islands (World War II).1944 – Battle of Tali-Ihantala – Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala (World War II).1947 – The announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten.1948 – Pakistan issues its first set of Postage stamps.1955 – The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London.1958 – Mega-tsunami hits Lituya Bay - wave height at 524 meters, the largest in recorded history.1962 – The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test is conducted by the United States of America.1962 – Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.1984 – York Minster is struck by a lightning causing a fire which damaged most of the building.1989 – Two bombs explode in Mecca.1991 – South Africa is readmitted into the Olympic movement.1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lankan Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the first chairman being Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.

July 8 Events:1099 – First Crusade - spectacle of 15,000 starving Christian soldiers marching in a religious procession around Jerusalem, whilst the Muslim defenders look on.1283 – Naval Battle of Malta between the Aragonese & the Neapolitan fleets - War of the Sicilian Vespers.1497 – Vasco da Gama embarks on the first direct European voyage to India.1579 – Our Lady of Kazan (holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church) is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.1709 – Battle of Poltava – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava (Great Northern War).1716 – Naval Battle of Dynekilen (Great Northern War).1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.1760 – Battle of Restigouche – British forces defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France (French & Indian War).1775 – Signing of the Olive Branch Petition by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies.1776 – The Declaration of Independence is read aloud in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania & the Liberty Bell is rung.1822 – Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.1853 – Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay.1859 – King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.1864 – Choshu Han shishi's planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya (Ikedaya Jiken).1874 – The Mounties begin their March West.1889 – Wall Street Journal's first issue is published.1892 – Great Fire of 1892 in St. John's, Newfoundland.1898 – Death of crime boss Soapy Smith enables the release of Skagway, Alaska.1907 – First Follies staged by Florenz Ziegfeld on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression - bottoms out at 41.22.1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged in the Soviet Union with espionage resulting from his flight.1962 – Ne Win besieges & dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building.1965 – Train robber Ronald Biggs escapes from Wandsworth Prison, London.1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.1969 – IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer.1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy.1982 – Attempted assassination of Saddam Hussein in Dujail.1982 – The Senegalese Trotskyist political party LCT is legally recognized.1996 – Machete weilding schizophrenic man wounds 3 children & 4 adults at a primary school in Wolverhampton, England.1997 – NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, & Poland to join the alliance in 1999.1999 – Allen Lee Davis is executed by electric chair by the state of Florida.